I was just contacted about a contractor position with Biogen, which is ironic because just about this time last year me, and a whole bunch of other contractors were let go without any notice from Biogen. Working at Biogen as a contractor is equal to spending time in hell. I often had to work 10 or 11 hour days and was treated like a second class employee. The recruiter who hired me along with the manager who I reported to promised that if I worked hard it could lead to a permanent position with the company but when I had lunch with the Director for the area I was told point blank "that's not true". Then there was the case of actually doing my job. I was a supposed to be a Project Manager but much to my surprise a manager in my group actually changed deadlines without bothering to inform me. When I challenged him he flat out lied to me as I had the vendor listening in via my cellphone. Unless you are desperate, don't take a position with this company as a contractor and run away as fast and hard as you can
as a former contractor this story is more than true but doesn't adequately communicate the hell that being a contractor actually is.
That's correct, Biogen has been notorious for hiring and then blaming (EVEN hiring in order to blame) consultants/contractors for their problems (scapegoat/fall guy). You've been forewarned.
I can see that with a contractor that was hired within the team I am stationed in. Though I was not involved too deeply, the situation is a mess and a half and the full timers wanted to wipe their hands clean of this project that they royally screwed up months previous. Poor guy, seems very smart and driven to succeed, but it was a set-up from the start. I think he is starting to figure it out though and has made as made as many comments to indicate it recently.
I am a contractor in development and I feel that's happening to me. Is it intentional? Probably not but i do have my suspicions. It is a symptom of the company using contractors for roles that should be full-time roles without question. Contractors lack influence when needing to work with other departments and especially outside vendors. I'm not treated like a contractor by my direct team or manager, but anyone else outside that small group looks down their nose at my standing with BIIB. Outside vendors know you have no power.
It's not difficult to figure out if you are being used as a scapegoat. First, how are your performance reviews going and what kind of reputation do you have, or to be more accurate, you are being given by the company? Second, how is the project doing? If you've been given unusually high authority for a contractor and/or are put on a failing/unpopular/difficult project, then you need to watch it. Also, keep in mind, it doesn't have to be preplanned or done intentionally. If anything goes wrong, it is much easier to blame the poor consultant by default. Why would crap stick to the FTE's when the contractor is sitting right there?
Thank God, I dodged that bullet when I was approached for a contract opportunity at BIIB. Place sounds like a hot mess
Wow, this is a lot more widespread than I thought, but it is good to know I am not the only one. What you wrote could have described my role right down to the very last inch. To add to what has not already been said, what I cannot stand at Biogen is the laziness of the FTE's. Simple simple simple things or lists or trackers that would help immensely that are used at every company do not exist at Biogen. When I offer to create them (should take 20-30 mins) for the team or need a simple question answered to get started, I either do not get a reply back, get stonewalled or get told to focus on the high-level. Then weeks later i overhear multiple issues arise where such simple trackers or lists would have been helpful. In one case, I did it anyway on my own, produced it to a colleague that was struggling with a project and it helped her with what she needed. I later was somewhat scolded for wasting my time (it took me 20 mins) and that I am not buying into the new BIIB culture of keeping our work at a strategic high-level.
Haha, that's me!! It really irritates me. I get dumped on and the full timers don't do much of anything, show up to work at 10AM, leave at 2:30-3 to go pick up the kids, sign back online at home for a half hour and leave early on Fridays or never come in at all. I wish I got into this field as a start 10-15 years ago like them and rocket up easily with no competition or before mass outsourcing was introduced that torpedoed your young career early and now stuck in perma-temp land. I cannot stress enough what was previously written in that past post I am quoting above. You can have the best manager, a great FT staff around you, but if you have to work with other teams and groups at BIIB or have to be in regular contact with external vendors, they will treat you like dirt and will not respect your authority to lead a project. For the life of me, I will never understand why Biogen has contractors in roles where this is a key component of your job.
Very accurate thread. Expect more of the roles within Biogen to be made into contractor roles as they look to make cuts in internal spending. If an FTE leaves Biogen, it will turn into a contractor role when being filled, if it all. The "quiet layoffs" begin ..
The quiet layoff from Biogen is a gift. They pay you to leave hell & take your expertise to where it will be valued. Worst company I have ever worked for. I hope to be part of the quiet lay off.
I survived the axe (phew), but I hate working here. They slyly tend to find a way to blame me and the other contractor in our group for whatever goes wrong - to our face and behind closed doors. What this guy has stated is scarily accurate and eye opening. Don't come here, especially as a consultant.
I was a contractor at Biogen for 2.5 years, promised and put under the impression by the old manager (who was forced to resign) and my own temp agency that I was going to be a FTE. Even the new manager tried to convert me with no luck and no approval from upper management. A "hiring freeze" was their excuse and "we are too broke to convert" when they paid my agency just about DOUBLE my salary to keep me there as the lowest paid in the dept! Hiring freeze my a** as there are job postings all the time for FTE's. Also, I paid $300/mo to commute in with no help from Biogen or my agency. This company has a culture of keeping contractors around full-time with no hopes of going permanent. In some states this is against the law.
The other thing is you are brought on as a Contractor for one role and then in turns into a role where you have more than 3 jobs and you are working 10x harder than the FTE's. My role evolved fast over 2.5 years and I ended up doing 5 jobs for the price of one
